AOL Time Warner is expected to announce today a deal to sell two of its Atlanta-based sports teams for roughly $250 million, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The company has agreed to sell the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Thrashers to an investment partnership, the source said. More details on who is in the partnership will be revealed today.

Talks had broken down with Dallas car dealer David McDavid, who previously was the front-runner to buy the teams.

While the deal is valued at less than the combined value of the teams – as estimated by Forbes magazine – the new owners will take significant losses off AOL Time Warner’s books, according to the source. Forbes has valued the Hawks at $200 million and the Thrashers at $134 million.

AOL Time Warner also owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team, which is valued at about $424 million.

The sale of the two teams is part of the media giant’s efforts at trimming its massive debt load, which at the beginning of the year stood at about $26 billion.

The company has sold its CD/DVD manufacturing unit as well as a 50 percent stake in the Comedy Central cable network.

Earlier this year AOL Time Warner sought to sell its books division, but was forced to take it off the block after German media giant Bertelsmann backed away from the deal.

The company is also considering selling its music publishing arm, Warner Chappell, if it can agree to terms on a joint venture with Bertelsmann to merge the two companies’ recorded music divisions. Warner Chappell could fetch close to $1 billion, according to analysts.